OS Module Python Tutorial

In this video, we cover the OS module with Python 3. The main purpose of the OS module is to interact with your operating system. The primary use I find for it is to create folders, remove folders, move folders, and sometimes change the working directory. You can also access the names of files within a file path by doing listdir(). We do not cover that in this video, but that's an option.

The os module is a part of the standard library, or stdlib, within Python 3. This means that it comes with your Python installation, but you still must import it.

Sample code using os:

import os

All of the following code assumes you have os imported. Because it is not a built-in function, you must always import it. It is a part of the standard library, however, so you will not need to download or install it separately from your Python installation.

curDir = os.getcwd()
print(curDir)

The above code will get your current working directory, hence "cwd."

To make a new directory:

os.mkdir('newDir')

To change the name of, or rename, a directory:

os.rename('newDir','newDir2')

To remove a directory:

os.rmdir('newDir2')

With the os module, there are of course many more things we can do. In many scenarios, however, the os module is actually becoming outdated, as there is a superior module to get the job done. We will get to those soon enough. It is still a good idea to at least know some of the basics of the os module. I especially like to use it to create directories. If you ever create a setup.py file, the creation of directories and the placing of files within them will be essential.